Billionaire Manhattan hedge-funder Marc Lasry — who this week turned down a coveted ambassadorship to France after his name surfaced in a $100 million illegal-gambling-ring probe — has deep ties to the Clintons and President Obama.

The relationship was so strong that the powerful Dems hired each other’s children and considered themselves family friends.

Lasry’s son, Alex, worked as a $42,000-a-year special assistant reporting to senior Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, while Chelsea Clinton did a three-year stint with Lasry’s Avenue Capital investment fund.

Lasry’s daughter, Samantha, was a staffer for then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who went on to become Obama’s first chief of staff.

Lasry, always a big Clinton donor, was a top fund-raiser for Obama in 2012, pulling in more than $1 million.

Sources told The Post that Lasry declined the diplomatic post because of his friendship with Illya Trincher, the man feds say is the Russian-mob-connected kingpin of the gambling ring’s New York outfit.

Lasry’s camp yesterday said that he yanked his name purely for business reasons — and that he has no relationship with Trincher.

“He’s played poker across the table from him, as have several celebrities, athletes and other boldfaced and not-so-boldfaced names,” one person close to Lasry said. “It’s not illegal to be sitting across the table from someone.

Sources close to Lasry say he was not aware of the FBI probe until after he pulled his name from consideration — and as of yesterday still hadn’t been contacted by anyone involved in the probe.